A common requirement for any surgical procedure on a patient is that the operative field opened in the patient must be continually cleared of fluids and particulates that obscure the surgeon's vision of the field. These fluids and particulates can include blood, irrigating solution, bone chips or dust, hemostatic agents, among others. Irrespective of the region of the body where the surgery occurs, but especially with respect to neurological or orthopedic procedures, significant amounts of these fluids and particulates present challenges to the surgeon's clear viewing of the surgical field. In addition to the fluids and particulates derived from the patient, foreign materials usefully employed as hemostatic agents can also obscure the operative field and require removal. Such hemostatic agents include absorbable gelatin sponges (e.g., Gelfoam from Baxter Healthcare Corporation), a kneadable mixture of beeswax and mineral wax (e.g., Ethicon Bone Wax from Johnson & Johnson), or an oxidized cellulose polymer (e.g., a polymer of polyanhydroglucuronic acid sold under the trade name Surgicel by Johnson & Johnson).
Removing these materials is typically accomplished using a surgical suction device, inserting the distal tip of the surgical suction device in and about the operative field whereupon the field-obscuring materials are sucked away to a location outside of the field; until, that is, the distal tip becomes fouled by particulate matter or coagulated blood or combinations of such, which is inevitable.
The distal tip is commonly referred to as a surgical suction tip and is an integral part of any surgical procedure. More particularly to the general view of the problem presented above, the suction tip is connected to a wall suction unit in the surgical suite via a plastic tubing. The suction (referred to below as negative pressure) created at the tip clears the field of the materials mentioned above that may be obstructing the surgeon's field of view.
The practical approach taken in a surgery to clear the clogged suction tips is to interrupt the surgery so the tip can be cleaned. Literally, the surgeon stops clearing the operative field, hands the clogged suction to the scrub nurse so s/he can clear it with saline flushes or a stylet (i.e., an implement employed to poke at and remove obstructing matter from a vacuum path). This process may have to be repeated multiple times in a surgery, prolonging the surgical time and contributing a significant source of inefficiency to the surgical procedure.
Despite the development of various shapes of the suction tip inspired by the desire to eliminate the clogged distal tip problem, clogging of the suction tip remains a problem in all operating rooms. Accordingly, the surgeon uses the surgical suction device until its distal tip becomes clogged, hands it to an assistant who, under sterile conditions, manually replaces or unclogs the tip and hands the surgical suction device back to the surgeon. Obviously, critical time is lost by the need to hand the surgical suction device to an assistant for clearance, and then get it back, and then place it where it can do its intended task until, alas, the cycle is repeated with the distal tip yet again clogged, lost time, and a patient in surgery longer than necessary.
It would be desirable to have a surgical suction device designed that allowed the surgeon to clear the distal tip directly without need to pass it off to another or otherwise lose time completing the work of addressing the patient's issues that caused the opening of the operative field in the first place.